"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Saturday, October 13, 2007

WHAT DO AL GORE AND KARL MARX HAVE IN COMMON?

THEY BOTH PERPETRATED HUGE HOAXES ON THE LEFT!












Anthropogenic global warming is as real as the utopia Marxism promised.

And, Gore's remedies - if enacted - would be almost as bad as the dystopia Marxism delivered.

THE INCREDIBLE WRONGNESS OF BEING LEFT

THE LEFT IS DOOMED BECAUSE THEY'RE TRAPPED BY A WALL OF LEFTIST LIES AND BELIEVE IN A HOST OF THINGS THAT ARE JUST WRONG:

  • GORE WON.
  • MANKIND IS CAUSING THE PLANET TO GET CATASTROPHICALLY WARM.
  • TAXES ARE TOO LOW. (NOT ON YOU, ON THE OTHER GUY RICHER THAN YOU!)
  • WE'RE LOSING THE WAR.
  • EVERYONE IN THE WORLD HATES AMERICA MORE THAN EVER.
  • THERE'S A HEALTHCARE CRISIS IN AMERICA.
  • HEALTHCARE IS BETTER OVERSEAS.
  • KERRY WON.
  • GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS CAN SOLVE ANY PROBLEM.
  • ALL WARS ARE BAD AND CAN BE STOPPED BY NEGOTIATING.
  • THE BRILLIANT BILL CLINTON'S PROVEN SEXUAL MISCONDUCT WAS NOTHING. THE IDIOT CLARENCE THOMAS'S UNPROVEN SEXUAL HARASSMENT IS HORRIBLE.
ALL OF THESE ARE FALSE. YET ALL ARE CORE BELIEFS OF THE LEFT. NO WONDER THEY'RE SO EFFED UP.

AND IT'S WHY ALL THEIR POLICY IDEAS ARE LOUSY: IF YOU'RE NOT LOOKING AT THE REAL WORLD, THEN YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO COME UP WITH REAL SOLUTIONS.

WHY IS THE MSM EMBARGOING THE NEWS THAT THE ANTARCTIC ICE SHELF IS THE BIGGEST IT'S EVER BEEN?

COULD IT BE BECAUSE IT DISPROVES GLOBAL WARMING?










It's an important bit of news most people are hearing NOTHING about. And when they do, it opens their eyes. CASE IN POINT: While discussing Gore's prize, I got the better of a Leftie the other day: I told her that polution is bad - and that there are a dozen reasons why we should diversify our energy sources and use alternatives to so-called fossil fuels, but that AGW caused by CO2 was NOT one of them. When I showed her this news about the Antarctic she was speechless.

Her silence gave me the opportunity to explain to her that (a) CO2 was a small part of the atmosphere, that (b) man-made CO2 was an even smaller part, that (c) CO2 is a poor conductor, and that (d) ice cores show it's a lagging indicator and not a cause of warming. I reminded her that Long Island was formed when glaciers retreated and that climate change is and has always been natural and periodic.

SHE WAS SPEECHLESS. I'd cracked an opening in the Leftist wall of lies and let a ray of light in.

Now.... if we can only do that the the REST of the Left!

David Irving now Admits Holocaust -- Just won't Call it that

We read:
"He says that a document, which he is 80% sure is genuine, suggests that 2.4 million Jews were killed in Poland, but goes on to claim that the gas chamber at Auschwitz was fake. "It was not the centre of the killing operations - it has only become a focus because it is the site that is best preserved. Much of what is shown the tourists there is faked postwar - watchtowers, even the famous gas chamber."

He added: "In my opinion now the real killing operations took place at the Reinhardt camps west of the Bug river. In the three camps here [Sobibor, Belzec, and Treblinka] Heinrich Himmler's men (mostly Ukrainian mercenaries) killed possibly as many as 2.4 million in the two years up to October 1943. There is now nothing to be seen of the Reinhardt camps, neither stick nor stone, so few tourists go there. I have visited all four sites earlier this year." ....

Asked if he now accepts there had been a Holocaust against the Jewish people he said he was "not going to use their trade name". He added: "I do accept that the Nazis quite definitely, that Heinrich Himmler, organised and directed a programme, a clandestine programme, for the liquidation of European Jews

Source
He's got a point about the present Auschwitz exhibit. I think it is now generally recognized among involved historians that most of it is a postwar reconstruction rather than original. Irving is an attention-seeker (like the many Leftists who now have similar antisemitic views) but he is also exceptionally knowledgeable and should be heard, if only to see how accepted views stand up to criticism.

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

Is Hillary stealing the GOP's thunder?

Not sure about this but it's a theory

The person who is elected president will need concrete proposals, but the G.O.P. contenders scarcely have them. Mike Huckabee has some sketchy plans. John McCain answered one element of middle-class anxiety yesterday with his new health care plan. Others seem to have decided concrete proposals are for geeks. In this way, the Republican Party has abandoned the Hamiltonian ground. It has lost intimate contact with the working-class dreamer who longs to make good.

Instead this ground is being seized by a Democrat. Over the past few months, Hillary Clinton has issued a string of specific policy programs aimed directly at members of the aspiring middle class. Yesterday, it was a tax credit for college. Earlier in the week, Clinton offered a plan to give families down the income scale access to 401(k)-style plans. Right now, 75 million workers have no employee-sponsored pension accounts. The way our tax code is structured, people up the income ladder get big tax incentives to save, while working people, who have the most trouble saving, get the smallest incentives.

Under the Clinton plan, if a family making up to $60,000 a year put $1,000 into a new 401(k) account, they would get a $1,000 matching tax credit. The plan would create millions of new investors. Struggling families could choose mutual fund options and participate in the capital markets. They'd be encouraged to move away from a month-to-month mentality to a saving-for-the-future mentality.

Clinton's plan poaches on economic values that used to be associated with the Republican Party. Moreover, it undermines the populist worldview that is building on the left of her party. Instead of railing against globalization and the economic royalists, Clinton gives working people access to Wall Street and a way to profit from the global economy.

No Republican would design asset-building plans the way Clinton does. No Republican would pay for them the way she does. But at least she has a middle-class agenda. Right now, the general election campaign looks like it's going to be a replay of the S-chip debate. The Democrats propose something, and the Republicans have no alternative.

Source

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

WHY THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE HAS BEEN A JOKE FOR YEARS

As Reliapundit pointed out, Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize and joined the likes of Carter, Annan and Arafat. I was disgusted but not surprised at all to see Al Gore win. When the same award has been given to a terrorist, the worst U.S. president ever (who has done more to breed instability in the world than anyone I can think of) and a corrupt leader of the UN it doesn't shock you to see it given to a fraud like Al Gore.

It doesn't matter that a British judge of all people recently declared this about Gore's propaganda film:
The court ruled the Guidance Notes to Teachers must make clear that:

* The film is a political work and promotes only one side of the argument.

* If teachers present the film without making this plain they may be in breach of section 406 of the Education Act 1996 and guilty of political indoctrination.

* Eleven inaccuracies have to be specifically drawn to the attention of school children.
Powerline does an excellent job of giving examples of just some of the recent recipients of this meaningless award:
2005
MOHAMED ELBARADEI (joint winner). He's done such a nice job with Iran.

2004
WANGARI MAATHAI. The Kenyan ecologist peacefully teaches that the AIDS virus is a biological agent deliberately created by the Man.

2002
JIMMY CARTER JR., former President of the United States of America. A true cosmopolitan, he has undermined the foreign policy of his own country and vouched for the bona fides of tyrants and murderers all over the world.

2001
UNITED NATIONS, New York, NY, USA.
KOFI ANNAN, United Nations Secretary General. Among other things, they have respectively served as the vehicle for, and presided over, one of the biggest scams in history.

1994
YASSER ARAFAT (joint winner), Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO, President of the Palestinian National Authority. He was a cold-blooded murderer both before and after receiving the award.

1992
RIGOBERTA MENCHU TUM, Guatemala. She is the notorious Guatemalan faker and author, sort of, of I, Rigoberta Menchu.

1988
THE UNITED NATIONS PEACE-KEEPING FORCES New York, NY, U.S.A. Notwithstanding rapes and sex abuse committed by the team in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and the Congo, still doing fine work all over the world.

ASSAD'S DAYS ARE NUMBERED

DAILY START (BEIRUT:)

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon sent a letter to the president of the Security Council informing the council of his intention to appoint judges Mohammad Amin al-Mehdi, Erik Mese and Nicolas Michel as members of the selection panel for the judges and prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon covering the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a UN statement said on Thursday.

Pursuant to a document annexed to Security Council Resolution 1757, the judges and the prosecutor are to be appointed by the secretary general upon the recommendation of a selection panel he has established, after indicating his intentions to the Security Council. The selection panel will be composed of two judges, currently sitting on or retired from an international tribunal, and the representative of the secretary general.

Mehdi and Mese are distinguished jurists. Mehdi, an Egyptian, formerly served on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Mese, a Norwegian, currently serves on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Michel is the United Nations undersecretary general for legal affairs.

WE WILL GET HIM THIS WAY - OR ANOTHER MORE KINETIC WAY... BUT EITHER HE WILL BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE.

BECAUSE BUSH HAS NOT BEEN AGGRESSIVE ENOUGH, IT'S TAKEN LONGER THAN IT MIGHT HAVE - LIKE IRAQ...

MORE HERE.

ANOTHER SIGN WE'RE WINNING: SUNNI INSURGENTS SPEAKING OUT AGAINST AL QAEDA

MSNBC:
In a development experts call a significant shift, Iraqi insurgent groups are speaking out against al-Qaida and its brutally violent tactics. ... NBC News terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann first reported the statements on counterterrorismblog.org. Kohlmann believes such strong public criticism of al-Qaida in Iraq by other insurgent groups in Iraq is a very significant development.
DESPITE THE BEST EFFORTS OF THE ENEMY - (THE DEMOCRATS, THE MSM AND AL QAEDA) -WE'RE WINNING.

Friday, October 12, 2007

GENERAL SANCHEZ -- WHO WAS A LOSER WHO WAS RELIEVED OF HIS COMMAND IN IRAQ -- BLAMES OTHERS AND CALLS IRAQ UNWINNABLE

VIA DRUDGE:
Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who commanded coalition troops for a year beginning June 2003, cast a wide net of blame for both political and military shortcomings in Iraq that helped open the way for the insurgency — such as disbanding the Saddam-era military and failing to cement ties with tribal leaders and quickly establish civilian government after Saddam was toppled.

He called current strategies — including the deployment of 30,000 additional forces earlier this year — a "desperate attempt" to make up for years of misguided policies in Iraq.

"There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight," Sanchez told a group of journalists covering military affairs.
  • SANCHEZ IS A SORE LOSER MOUTHING OFF LIKE A REJECTED LOVER.

  • HE'S BLAMING OTHERS FOR HIS OWN SHORT-COMINGS AND HIS OWN FAILURES. TYPICAL CYA BS.

  • PETRAEUS HAS BEEN PROVING HIM WRONG - EVERYDAY FOR A FEW MONTHS. WE ARE WINNING.

WEEKEND WITH THE ARTS: DRUMS OF PASSION: OLATUNJI!

There's more to life than war, taxes and politics - and a lot of it's more fun, too! That's why every WEEKEND, here at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, we post some of the cultural things we're into, things we think you might also find entertaining, enriching, and stimulating. We just might turn you on to something cool.

After all, the arts - ALL ARTS, not just fine arts - are a big part of what our liberty is for, and what we're fighting to defend!

THIS WEEK: BABATUNDE OLATUNJI!


"Babatunde Olatunji was a virtuoso of West African percussion. His 1959 album "Drums of Passion" was a worldwide smash hit. He received a Grammy Award in 1991 for his collaboration with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart on their Planet Drum album. He was also the founder of the Voices of Africa foundation."


CLICK HERE FOR AN NPR REPORT ABOUT OLATUNJI.

LISTEN TO THE SAMPLES BELOW:

Amazon Music Sampler Windows Media
1. Akiwowo (Chant To The Trainman) Listen Listen
2. Oya (Primitive Fire) Listen Listen
3. Odun De! Odun De! (Happy New Year!) Listen Listen
4. Jin-Go-Lo-Ba (Drums Of Passion) Listen Listen
5. Kiyakiya (Why Do You Run Away?) Listen Listen
6. Baba Jinde (Flirtation Dance) Listen Listen
7. Oyin Momo Ado (Sweet As Honey) Listen Listen
8. Shango (Chant To The God Of Thunder) Listen Listen

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
When he first appeared on the scene in America, Babatunde Olatunji was acclaimed by artists such as John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie; later, his influence was acknowledged by Carlos Santana and the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart. As influential as this breakthrough record has been, it is delightfully unassuming, simply a straightforward excursion into the rhythms of Nigeria. "Akiwowo" is a joyful evocation of the rhythms that are created by a moving freight train. "Oya", "Jin-Go-Lo-Ba," and "Shango" all feature drumming of fiery intensity. Make no mistake, this recording is about rhythm and percussion, but don't overlook the fact that Olatunji has a distinctive and powerful voice. He uses it to fine effect on a number of pieces on Drums of Passion, at times soaring above the drums, then joining in harmony with others in his troupe. This is a rewarding album that truly deserves the decades of popularity it has enjoyed. --Jeff Grubb
LISTEN TO IT. BUY IT.

WHO YA GONNA BELIEVE, GORE OR YOUR LYING EYES!?












FYI: The ice shelf in the south pole is the biggest it's ever been.

And NASA has determined that the Arctic ice retreat is due to unusual winds.

IOW: Al Gore's hysterical ravings about CO2 and AGW are totally effin' wrong.

THE LAST TIME THE LEFT WAS FOOLED SO BADLY WAS BY KARL MARX!

YES YES YES : we know, we know: there IS something called climate change; it's REAL.

AND PERIODIC AND NATURAL.

COMPLETE ROUND UP AT MEMEORANDUM.

PREDICTION: EVENTS DURING THE NEXT 8 MONTHS WILL LEAD TO THE UNDOING OF THE AMERICAN LEFT

I AM AN OPTIMIST:

I feel that once the Iraq War has been CLEARLY WON and with AQ clearly in retreat, with AGW CLEARLY DISPROVED and with the economy clearly doing well, that the Left will have no where to go - or to hide.


These outcomes will become inescapably clear by next summer.

And then, the entire foundation and thrust of the Left's attack on the Right will vaporize.

As in 1865 after Gettysburg.

Ultimately, truth always beats lies.
And tomorrow always beats yesterday.

PURE POETRY - ABOUT THE LEFT - BY PAT SANTY

EXCERPT: THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH FOR THEM
(with some apologies to William Wordsworth)
The world is too much for them; topsy-turvy,
Through polls and insanity they lay waste their minds;
Little do they care when reality unwinds;
Bleeding hearts infected with emotional scurvy.
The left which bares a collective bosom to the moon,
While antiwar activists howl at all hours,
Has been rotting since the 60's like over-ripe flowers.
RTWT.

VICTORY FOR ARMENIANS: CONGRESS HAS PASSED RESOLUTION TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN HOLOCAUST

Despite Dubya's disgraceful attempts to discourage recognition of this important tragedy in history, Congress has done the right thing and has made a positive first step towards recognizing Turkey's mass murder of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915:
A U.S. House committee on Wednesday defied President George W. Bush by passing a resolution calling the 1915 massacre of Armenians genocide, a step the White House warns could damage U.S. goals in the Middle East.

The measure, passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee by a 27-21 margin, will be sent to the House floor, where Democratic leaders say there will be a vote within weeks.

Turkey, a key NATO ally that has supported U.S. efforts in Iraq, has strongly opposed the measure and warned it could damage relations between the two countries.

At issue is the killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of First World War. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide, says the toll has been inflated and insists that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest. It has threatened sanctions against countries that use the term genocide.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul called the measure's passage "unacceptable," said Reuters.

"Unfortunately some politicians in the United States of America have closed their ears to calls to be reasonable and once again sought to sacrifice big problems for small domestic political games," state news agency Anatolian quoted Gul as saying.
That disgraceful man can keep going with his obscenities that show nothing more than hatred for innocent people. The Turkish president, the first one from a Muslim background in many years, has only shown the true colors of people of his standing in Turkey, and why, contrary to the stupidity they blurt out about sanctions, they're the ones who're really asking for sanctions imposed by other countries, and not the other way around. I think a boycott of Turkey is in order here.

Update: and while we're on the subject of Dubya, check out the following comment someone at Dhimmi Watch found that Dubya made in 2000 (via Pedestrian Infidel).

Update 2: So Turkey's recalled its US ambassador (also via Dhimmi Watch). That's fine. Nobody needs villains who won't admit their wrongs. Hugh Fitzgerald writes them a note.

The Columbia Noose Incident Blamed on Conservatives



Even though the KKK were Democrats, it was Democrat governors (Faubus, Wallace) who opposed civil rights and it was a Republican President (Ike) who sent the troops in against them. But we can't expect a Leftist professor to know any history, can we? History is far too inconvenient to them.

"An adjunct professor at Wednesday's protest said she has noticed an increase in discriminatory behavior and attributed it to the current political climate in the United States.

"It's horrifying obviously," said Cris Beam, who teaches creative writing. "We're in a culture right now of escalating racism, in an increasingly conservative (environment). We all live in this country, so it seeps in."

Source

If that is not a slur, I don't know what would be. The fat black woman who was the "victim" is looking mightily pleased with herself in the photo above. The incident has gotten her vast publicity that she would never have gotten otherwise. Given past instances of "hate crimes" faked by Leftists themselves, the possibility that she put the noose there herself cannot be dismissed. There is another good list of fraudulent Democrat publicity stunts here

I wonder if Cris Bream also thinks that it is "conservatives" who are responsible for the big revival of antisemitism among Leftists in recent years.

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

G*ogle now Deliberately Evil

G*ogle's censorship of conservative speech is becoming more and more blatant:

"Internet giant G*ogle has banned advertisements critical of MoveOn.org, the far-left advocacy group that caused a national uproar last month when it received preferential treatment from The New York Times for its "General Betray Us" message.

The ads banned by G*ogle were placed by a firm working for Republican Sen. Susan Collins' re-election campaign. Collins is seeking her third term. Earlier this week, G*ogle told Lance Dutson, president of Maine Coast Designs, that the ads he placed for Collins had been removed and would not be allowed to resume because they violated G*ogle's trademark policy.

G*ogle's Web site states, "G*ogle takes allegations of trademark infringement very seriously and, as a courtesy, we're happy to investigate matters raised by trademark owners." That suggests G*ogle acted in response to a complaint by MoveOn.org.

Source

Did you get that? Using the MoveOn name is a "trademark infringement"! There is absolutely no basis in law for that, however. It is just a figleaf to hide their move to the dark side.

As a private company, G*ogle can do what it likes within the law but there is one part of the law they may not be thinking of: Antitrust legislation. They now have a considerable dominance in at least some types of online advertising and if they annoy enough people, they could well be forced by the courts to divest themselves of their non-core businesses. And interfering with political advertising is definitely poison when it comes to antagonizing large numbers of people.

I normally give the name as "G*ogle" when I write critical things about them in the faint hope that what I say will escape the scrutiny of their team that tracks everything said about them. They appear to be evil enough to delete this site and it is within their power to do so if they don't like what I say. If any of my sites DO disappear some day, don't forget my mirror sites

The comments here are hosted by G*ogle too so if commenters could see their way clear not to use the full name either it might help.

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

GORE JOINS ARAFAT, KOFI AND CARTER IN THE IGNOBLE CLUB FOR LYING LEFT-WINGERS

BBC:
Gore and UN panel win Nobel prize

Climate change campaigner Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The committee cited "their efforts to build up and disseminate knowledge about man-made climate change".

Mr Gore, 59, said he was "deeply honoured" while IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri said he was "overwhelmed".

Mr Gore was behind a blockbuster film on climate change while the IPCC is the top authority on global warming.

THEY OUGHT TO CHANGE THE NAME OF THIS PRIZE TO THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LEFTIST PROPAGANDA.

GORE BELOBGS ON A LIST WITH ARAFAT AND CARTER: ALL LYING, HARMFUL AS**OLES. SCUM. AS**OLES.

  • THERE IS NO AGW.

  • AGW IS NOT CAUSED BY CO2 OR ANY OTHER MAN-MADE GREENHOUSE GAS.

  • MAN-MADE GLOBAL-WARMING IS A HOAX FOISTED BY THE LEFT TO RAISE TAXES AND REDISTRIBUTE IT ACCORDING TO THEIR LIKES AND DISLIKES.

  • THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS AWARD BECAUSE GORE'S MOVIE HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE FILLED WITH MICHEAL MOORE-ESQUE LIES.

  • THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THE AWARD BECAUSE AGW HAS BEEN DISPROVEN.

  • TODAY, THE ANTARCTIC ICE SHELF IS LARGER THAN EVER.

  • GLOBAL WARMING IS NATURAL AND PERIODICAL. IT ALWAYS ALWAYS HAS BEEN.

  • PEOPLE LIKE GORE AND CARTER AND KOFI AND ARAFAT ACTUALLY DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD.

  • KARZAI AND ALLAWI AND MUSHARRAF AND BUSH AND KHALILZAD HAVE DOME AND ARE DOING MORE FOR WORLD PEACE THAN GORE, KOFI, CARTER AND ARAFAT.

NYTIMES' ODE TO THE GORACLE HERE.
COMPLETE ROUND UP AT MEMEORANDUM.

MY LETTER TO THE EDITOR ABOUT CLARENCE THOMAS

I had to control anger, resentment and animous. Again, those are things I couldn't afford to have, simply because they would destroy me.

Things like anger, negativity or cynicism, those things sort of bleed away the positive energy that you need to live your life.--Clarence Thomas

I watched the rest of Sean Hannity's interview with Clarence Thomas Sunday night on Hannity's America. I can't get over what a remarkable man he is. So you can imagine my outrage at reading Barbara Shelly's KC Star column, Why is Clarence Thomas reopening this chapter? It incensed me enough to write the following letter to the editor:
I was offended at Barbara Shelly's description of Clarence Thomas in her recent column. She seems intent on focusing on a small part of his book where he talked about Anita Hill. During his interviews he talked about how Hill was just a tool that the left used to smear him and he had little else to say about her.

I watched every interview Thomas did this past week and I saw a man whose theme in life is not to dwell on anger or revenge. I think Shelly must have missed these interviews because she couldn't have watched them and concluded that he had a “chip on his shoulder”. I saw the exact opposite and find him remarkably healthy after what he suffered through. We don't get to choose whether we go through trials in life but we can choose how we respond to them. Thomas’s response and life story is an inspiration to us all.
The KC Star published my letter on Wednesday.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

THERE ARE TWO AMERICAS - JUST NOT THE ONES EDWARDS TALKS ABOUT

MIRIAM:
... there really are two Americas: One where lawlessness reigns, guns and narcotics are everywhere, and life is brutal, nasty and short; and the other, where innocent people trying to make a living are hampered by idiotic laws, and possession of margarine is a capital offense.
RTWT.

  • I'D ONLY COUNTER-ARGUE THAT GUNS IN THE RIGHT HANDS ARE A GOOD THING.
  • CITIES WHICH TAKES THEM AWAY FROM GOOD GUYS HAVE MORE CRIME AS A RESULT. ('CAUSE THE BAD GUYS DON'T OBEY GUN LAWS!)
  • IN ISRAEL, ALL TEACHERS CAN CARRY A GUN AND THERE ARE NO GUN CRIMES AND NO TERROR ATTACKS AT THEIR SCHOOLS AS A RESULT.

BOTTOM-LINE: UNARMED JEWS WEAR GOLD STARS OF DAVID, AND ARMED JEWS WEAR A BLUE AND WHITE ONE.

IOW: THE RIGHT TO OWN A GUN IS ESSENTIAL FOR SELF DEFENSE.

42 MILLION ABORTIONS A YEAR...


BREITBART/AFP:
In 2003, the latest year for which full figures are available, 42 million abortions were carried out around the world, compared with 46 million in 1995, according to the paper published by The Lancet next Saturday.

... On the basis of the 2003 data, on average 90 percent of women worldwide will have had an abortion before the age of 45, the study calculates.

This varies, though, between many women who will have had multiple terminations and many who will have had none at all, note the authors, led by Gilda Sedgh of the Guttmacher Institute in New York and Iqbal Shah of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

  • I HAVE MY DOUBTS ABOUT ANYTHING COMING OUT OF THE LANCET. BUT THIS IS SIMPLY GENOCIDAL.

  • SINCE 9/11/01, THERE HAVE BEEN NEARLY SIX MILLION ABORTIONS IN THE USA ALONE.

  • THERE'S GOTTA BE MORE ADOPTIONS INSTEAD OF ABORTIONS, AND THERE'S GOTTA BE A BETTER WAY FOR WOMEN TO TERMINATE AN UNWANTED PREGNANCY. A WAY TO END THEIR PREGNANCY WITHOUT KILLING THE BABY - (PERHAPS BY EXTRACTION-AND-TRANSPLANTATION).
  • AND IT IS A BABY: FROM THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION A UNIQUE HUMAN BEING WITH UNIQUE DNA EXISTS.

MORE ON ABORTION - PRO'S AND CON - HERE, IN A REVIEW OF A RECENT DOCUMENTARY ON THE SUBJECT.

"INCREASING INCOME DISPARITY" IS A BOGEYMAN OF THE LEFT

BRILLIANT POST ABOUT INCOME DISPARITY AND THE IDIOTIC LEFTISM OF PAUL KRUGMAN AT DOUG ROSS'S PLACE. CHECK IT OUT - IT'S GOT LOADS OF LINKS AND PLENTY OF FULL COLOR GRAPHS!

My two cents: There was no income disparity in Mao's china - everyone was freakin' poor, ('cept fer the party biggies!)

Starting in 1980 when Teng Xiao Ping (sic???) took over, income disparity INCREASED.

However, this was outweighed by the vast gains in the standard of living for ALL.


Less-fettered freemarkets have always and will always outperform more fettered ones with statist redistribution schemes & regimes because ... prosperity is a by product liberty.

HOW & WHY!? Simple:

When people are free to make and buy and sell whatever they want, then they make and buy and sell more. Then the pie grows and the QUALITY of the goods and services constantly improves.

You know what you wanna buy and what you wanna pay for it better than any elite. As Reagan said, "You know how to spend your money better than the government." An empowered and free consumer is the real economic engine. Taxes and regulations make the engine stall.

An economy with the lowest possible taxes and the least possible regulations will grow at the fastest possible rate.

If statist economic controls, high taxes and free trade barriers were still in place in the USA, then the misery index would be in Carter territory and we'd all still be driving Pintos.

WHAT DORIS LESSING'S CV TELLS US ABOUT THE POSTMODERN WORLD

Doris Lessing - who was once a communist - won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

NYTIMES:
Ms. Lessing, who turns 88 later this month, never finished high school and largely educated herself through her voracious reading.

She had been born to British parents in [Persia] what is now Iran, was raised in colonial Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and now lives in London.
NO: NOW LONDONISTAN! HEH.

SERIOUSLY: All these places were better before they were taken over by anti-Western statists. INCLUDING LONDON!

THE GOP SHOULD PROPOSE MAKING THE FIRST SPOUSE A FEDERAL EMPLOYEE AND REQUIRING FULL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

SALON - VIA GLENN: A look at Bill Clinton's influence in a Hillary Clinton administration:
Laws designed to minimize real or perceived influence peddling limit the activities of a sitting president.

But campaign and election law attorneys say nothing prohibits Bill Clinton from continuing to accept big checks made out to him or his foundation, even if his wife is elected president.

"I don't know of any law that would restrict that," said Meredith McGehee, policy director at the Campaign Legal Center in Washington.

"The spouse is not exactly a federal employee." . . .

  • THE SENATE AND HOUSE GOP SHOULD PROPOSE MAKING THE FIRST SPOUSE A FEDERAL EMPLOYEE AND PROPOSE VERY STRICT DISCLOSURE RULES FOR FIRST SPOUSE'S INCOME.

  • (EVEN IF IT CAN'T PASS; IT'S ALWAYS GOOD TO MAKE THE DEMS SQUIRM AND EXPOSE MORE OF THEIR UTTER HYPOCRISY.)

  • REALLY: I WOULDN'T WANT A FIRST SPOUSE TO GET A BIG CHECK FROM A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT, MIKE ER UM... CHINA AND SAUDI ARABIA - AS BILL CLINTON HAS IN THE PAST.

The "Q generation" and that out-of-touch lefist idiot Tom Friedman

FRIEDMAN/NYTIMES:
I just spent the past week visiting several colleges — Auburn, the University of Mississippi, Lake Forest and Williams — and I can report that the more I am around this generation of college students, the more I am both baffled and impressed.

I am impressed because they are so much more optimistic and idealistic than they should be. I am baffled because they are so much less radical and politically engaged than they need to be.
IN OTHER WORDS: FRIEDMAN IS MORE PESSIMISTIC AND MORE RADICAL. AND THINKS EVERYONE SHOULD BE, TOO. THIS TELLS US MORE ABOUT FRIEDMAN THAN COLLEGE KIDS:

  • ALL THIS PROVES IS THAT FRIEDMAN IS ACTUALLY AN ISOLATED LEFTIST FROM THE UPPER WEST SIDE, AND IS WAY TO PESSIMISTIC AND ANTAGONISTIC TO TRADITIONAL CONSERVATIVE VALUES AND POLICIES.

  • IT ALSO PROVES THAT HE KNOWS ABOUT AS LITTLE ABOUT REAL AMERICA AS PAULINE KAEL WHO FAMOUSLY SAID IN 1972, THAT SHE COULDN'T BELIEVE THAT NIXON HAD WON REELECTION IN A LANDSLIDE BECAUSE EVERYONE SHE KNEW VOTED FOR MCGOVERN.

S-CHIP, Graeme Frost and Leftist demagoguery

Moran wrote a GREAT post on some of the idiotic BS coming out of the Left on the Graeme Frost Kerfuffle. He argues that the Left is deliberately overreacting to the Right's critique of the S-CHIP as "welfare for the Middle Class" because they want to cut off debate. Moran is right.

But there's more going on here - and much of it is typical of the Left's approach to EVERYTHING.

The Left essentially and repeatedly argues that if you are opposed to welfare then you hate poor people. They make this type of accusation agains the Right ALL THE FREAKIN' TIME.

As a former Leftist and current Conservative who cares EVERY BIT as deeply about people in need as I did then I FIND THIS INSULTING AND IDIOTIC. I favor conservative policies and principles now because they are consistent, universal, and they work.

And so I must say that when the Left says we on the Right hate poor people that it is simply BULLSHIT. It's similar to their anti-defense spending BS, as when they say - as they have for decades, and recently, specifically about the NMD - that if you're for increases in defense spending that you are against PEACE.

History has proven over and over that peace is the result of strength and victories, not appeasement and disarmament.

And history has proven that welfare does not end poverty.

As Daniel Moynihan famously argued and as Welfare Reform PROVED, welfare doesn't end poverty; it appeases poverty.

As a very wise man once said, "The black family survived slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, WW1, the Depression, and WW2. But it could not withstand "The Great Society."

But despite decades of proof that Welfare FAILED and Welfare Reform succeeded, the Dems now want to expand welfare - and that's what their S-CHIP proposal is: AN EXPANSION OF WELFARE - to the middle class.

The Frost Family's Financial Facts prove that.

And - as MORAN points out - no one smeared Graeme or his family; critics merely pointed out that his family can afford to buy insurance and chooses not to.

The Left thought they had found another spokesperson with ABSOLUTE MORAL AUTHORITY, but instead they found just another middle class family who can afford to buy health insurance themselves but who would rather OTHER PEOPLE pay for it.

When those "OTHER PEOPLE" are the TAXPAYERS an the payout is managed by the STATE the all it amounts to is REDISTRIBUTION OF INCOME - and that is SOCIALISM.

Being opposed to socialism is a principled POV based on socialism's repeated and dismal failure to deliver any goods or services as well as the freemarket.

Being opposed to socialism is NOT anti-poor people. It is being for a system which most enables people to earn, buy, make, and sell what they want. Which means that it maximizes both liberty and prosperity.

China's last twenty years and Korea's last 50 prove this beyond any doubt. ANY DOUBT.

SURE: income disparity has grown the last few decades in China and South Korea, but increases in the standard of living for EVERYONE has far outstripped any disparity.

If you like socialism then move to Zimbabwe or North Korea. And remember: before Castro took over Cuba it was the second RICHEST nation in the Caribbean - to Jamaica. Now it is the second POOREST - only Haiti is poorer.

We mustn't let Hillary and the Dems do to the USA what socialist did to the UK and Zimbabwe and North Korea, Cuba etc. Socialism in China and North Korea and Zimbabwe the USSR and Cuba and the EVERY other place it was ever tried failed because it is anti-libertarian, and "prosperity is a by-product of liberty." Leftists like Hillary think that it failed because Mugabe and Lenin and Mao and Kim and Atlee and Castro weren't smart enough. And that's BS.

GETTING BACK TO S-CHIP: As far as health insurance reform goes, basically the right believes that everyone should have MSA's and that poor people should get voucher's to buy private health insurance.

This is a pro-freemarket approach, and since freemarkets always outperform state-run programs I think we should try it.

THINK OF THE POOR CHILDREN!

UPDATE: TIME magazine calls the Right's expose of the Frost family's finances THE SWIFT-BOATING OF GRAEME FROST. Gateway tears this Leftist Propaganda to shreds.

  • REMEMBER: THE SWIFTIES HURT KERRY BY EXPOSING THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM.

  • IN THIS SENSE, TIME MAGAZINE'S USE OF THE TERM IS ACTUALLY ACCURATE - BUT THEY DON;LT MEAN IT THAT WAY!
COMPLETE ROUND UP AT MEMORANDUM.

LYNNE CHENEY FOR THE SENATE!

LYNNE CHENEY FOR PRESIDENT??? MAYBE, ACCORDING TO THIS: VIA HOT AIR/TOWNHALL-DWAYNE HORNER: Could She Fill the Vacuum?
There is a tremendous amount of voter fatigue amongst GOP primary voters, witness the hope that Fred Thompson was going to come in and immediately fill the "conservative" vacuum that appears to be out there.

Here's another name to keep in mind, Lynne Cheney. She has a very impressive resume for anyone who would consider running for President. She has a PhD with a specialization in 19th-Century British literature from the University of Wisconsin, is a best-selling author, was a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institude, and was named chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts by President Reagan. Ms. Cheney has experience in front of a camera as one of the co-hosts of CNN's Crossfire.

While this is a shot in the dark, could Lynne Cheney fill that vacuum conservatives seem to have right now? Who wouldn't love to see her battle Hillary ...
THOUGH SHE'D BE A GREAT POTUS, THERE'S NO WAY IN HECK SHE COULD OR WOULD RUN FOR THE PRESIDENCY, BUT SHE COULD RUN FOR THE SENATE!

  • I THINK SHE COULD RELOCATE LIKE HILLARY DID AND RUN FOR THE VIRGINIAN US SENATE SEAT BEING VACATED BY JOHN WARNER. THIS WOULD TURN THAT RACE INTO A BIGGIE AND GIVE THE GOP A GREAT SHOT PERHAPS ITS BEST SHOT AT HOLDING IT.

  • OR, SHE COULD RUN FOR LARRY CRAIG'S IDAHO SEAT.

MORE MSM BIAS FROM IRAQ: "9 Children Killed in U.S. Raid in Iraq"

AP: 9 Children Killed in U.S. Raid in Iraq
U.S. troops backed by attack aircraft killed 19 suspected insurgents and 15 civilians, including nine children, in an operation targeting al-Qaida in Iraq leaders northwest of Baghdad on Thursday, the military said.

An initial airstrike struck a "time-sensitive target," killing four insurgents in the Lake Tharthar area after intelligence reports indicated senior members of al-Qaida in Iraq were meeting there, according to a statement.

U.S. ground forces faced small-arms fire after launching a raid against a building after suspects fled the initial meeting location to an area south of the lake, the military said. Subsequent airstrikes were called in.

Ground forces secured the area and determined "15 terrorists, six women and nine children were killed," a statement said. Two suspects, one woman and three children also were wounded and one suspected insurgent was detained, it added.

  • THEY LEAD WITH THE CHILDREN; THE LEFT ALWAYS LEADS WITH THE CHILDREN - NOT THE FACT THAT WE TOOK OUT 25 JIHADOTERRORISTS

  • THE ENEMY - AND NOT THE USA - VIOLATED THE GENEVA CONVENTION BY HIDING WITH WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

  • THE USA REGRETS THE LOSS OF CIVILIAN LIFE; THE ENEMY REJOICES IN IT.

  • THE MSM EXPLOITS THE COLLATERAL CASUALTIES TO HURT OUR MORALE AND TO BOLSTER "ANTI-WAR" SENTIMENT, BENEFIT THE DEMS AND THE ENEMY.

Wotta guy! Equality rejected at HOLLYWOOD!

He had to backpedal, of course, but deeds will speak louder than words. Excerpt



THE President of Warner Brothers Pictures has caused an uproar in the US after allegedly declaring that the studio will no longer make films with a female in the lead role. Warner Bros. head Jeff Robinov made the order following the disappointing box-office takings for two recent female vehicles - Jodie Foster's The Brave One ($US42 million worldwide) and Nicole Kidman's The Invasion ($14 million). US newspaper LA Weekly has reported the story, quoting three separate Warner Bros. producers.

Women's rights activists are fuming at the studio boss's remarks after struggling for so long to win equal pay.... But Robinov yesterday denied the reports and blamed poor execution and bad timing for The Invasion, which both Kidman and co-star Daniel Craig refused to promote. As for The Brave One, Robinov said he is "proud of the movie", which Foster continues to support around the world. But Robinov said he is still willing to put a female star into an action role.

Source

Fabricating Hate Speech

Excerpt:

"Accusations of hate speech make great headlines for newspapers, even if those accusations turn out to be wrong -- or even worse -- contrived. Such is the case at The George Washington University (GWU). Administrators at GWU are on a rampage against a conservative group on campus for posting anti-Muslim fliers that the group had nothing to do with. The Young America’s Foundation chapter at GWU was blamed for disseminating fliers that read “Hate Muslims? So Do We!!” The flier went on to describe a “typical Muslim” as having “lasers in eyes,” “venom from mouth,” “hatred for women”, and a “suicide vest.”

As it turns out, the fliers were a dirty trick, specifically created to stoke hatred where none had existed. That much is clear from taking a moment’s reflection to view the flier. The bottom of the flier, for instance, spitefully reads “Brought to you by Students for Conservativo-Fascism Awareness.” And as if that weren’t enough to tip off University officials that this was a stunt of malicious intent, the very last line stating “PS Seriously, do a google video search for ‘The Power of Nightmares’ ” should have ended any doubts. The film argues that the threat of radical Islam worldwide is in fact a myth perpetrated by politicians in America who have been hoodwinked by neoconservatives.

With the charges of hate speech unraveling before the campus community’s eyes, the University should have cleared the names of the students unfairly targeted and denounced the flier as a cheap attempt to sully the reputation of conservatives sponsoring a forum on the threat of radical Islam. GWU did some denouncing, but astonishingly, made the Muslims, not the conservatives, out to be the real victims of hate and intolerance.

Source


(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

MAHMOUD ABBAS-CONTROLLED NEWSPAPER INCITES AGAINST AMERICAN TROOPS

Again, Fatah shows how in truth, they're against the war in Iraq, and are just as dangerous to US army soldiers as the al Qaeda terrorists:
(IsraelNN.com) Al-Hayat al-Jadida, the largest Palestinian Authority (PA) daily newspaper controlled by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, featured a cartoon this week that illustrated a prayer for the killing of Americans. A Muslim is shown kneeling in prayer facing a U.S. B-2 stealth bomber, silhouetted in the sky.

The words of the cartoon character's prayer adorn four missiles aimed at the American plane. These are his wishes:

"Allah, scatter them!!"

“And turn their wives into widows!!"

“And turn their children into orphans!!"

“And give us victory over them!!"

According to Palestinian Media Watch, which reported the story, this plea for the death and bereavement of Americans is a special prayer for Laylat Al-Qadr (the 27th day of Ramadan), as is noted in the corner of the cartoon.

Publications in the PA and by Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction have a history of promoting support for those who fight and kill Americans. The most recently published 12th grade PA schoolbooks, for example, use the phrase "brave resistance" to describe terror attacks against American and British soldiers in Iraq. [PMW Study of the New 12th grade PA schoolbooks, page 24]

On Laylat al-Qadr, literally the Night of Decree, Muslims recite a large number of prayers. The Shi'a Muslims in particular stay awake all night, pray, and make wishes.

As the PA calls for the death of Americans, the American government is making preparations for a summit meeting it will host next month between Israel's leadership and the PA's Mahmoud Abbas, whom it regards as a moderate.
Incitement like what that newspaper does also encourages more hostility towards American troops in Iraq from local terrorists. And the Dubya administration is still willing to live in denial about this?

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

A STOP-THE-ACLU BLOGBURST: How the ACLU and International Law Threatens Our Sovereignty

JOHN OF STOP THE ACLU - EXCERPT:
Kender inspired this post. He wanted to write the blogburst, but his rant inspired me and I wanted to add more. So, I'm gonna use Kender's quotes throughout.
It seems a German citizen claimed that the CIA abducted him, drugged him and sent him to a prison in a third world country where he was tortured and finally released on a hilltop in another country in a case of mistaken identity.

The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed the case without comment after the Bush Administration said that if the case were not dismissed it would threaten state secrets.

What I want to know is WHY a group that calls itself the AMERICAN Civil Liberties Union is so concerned with the civil liberties of a German citizen. The last time I checked our civil liberties did not apply to the citizens of other countries, and the ACLU is not the arbiter of international law.
Last March, the ACLU went crying to the U.N. about how 'evil' the U.S. is.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Human Rights Network today urged the U.N. Human Rights Committee to hold the U.S. government accountable for flagrant and repeated violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

"Locally, nationally and globally, the United States has repeatedly failed in its responsibility to uphold basic human rights," said Ann Beeson, Associate Legal Director of the ACLU. "We are appealing to the international arbiters to hold the U.S. accountable to basic human rights standards."
As sickening as this is; it is only one step in the ACLU's agenda to undermine America's sovereignty and freedom that so many soldiers have sacrificed and died to preserve. The ACLU are obviously frustrated by their inability to advance their radical agenda more quickly under the U.S. Constitution, and are now determined not only to convince the American judiciary to look to international law, but also to use it as a means to their ends. They hold it as a higher authority than our own Constitution and are more than willing to sacrifice our sovereignty in their pursuit to radically force change on America to fit their own radical views.

The sad thing is that they don't have to try very hard to convince our judiciary. While they lost ground in the case above, they win enough to make it scary. Last year, former ACLU lawyer, and current Supreme Court Justice, Ruth "Snoozer" Ginsburg gave a speech that argued explicitly for the relevance of foreign law and court decisions to interpretation of the American Constitution. She isn't the only Justice that buys into this philosophy. FIVE Justices believe that international law should bear weight in interpreting our constitution.

The ACLU don't hide this agenda, they are proud of it.
RTWT!

"UK house prices in September generally fell again" - I BLAME BUSH!

BBC: House prices are continuing to turn down, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).
Its latest survey says UK house prices in September generally fell again, with more of its members reporting a fall in prices locally than an increase.

It said enquiries from new buyers had fallen for the tenth month in a row.

Rics blamed the downward trend on a combination of factors, such as higher interest rates and lenders tightening their lending criteria.

"A major correction in the market seems unlikely while economic growth is above trend and employment conditions remain buoyant," said RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf.
THAT LAST BIT IS THE KEY: TIGHT MONEY IS BAD FOR BUSINESS, AND THE DOWNTURN IS MERELY A CORRECTION.

WAPO SOPHISTICATION - CONSERVATIVES TOO STUPID TO KNOW THAT EUROPE IS DOING REALLY SUPER

Oh grow up:
5 Myths About Sick Old Europe... Not so long ago, American pundits and economic analysts were snidely touting U.S. economic superiority to the "sick old man" of Europe. What a difference a few months can make... But what about Europe? You may be surprised to learn how our estranged transatlantic partner has been faring during these roller-coaster times - and how successfully it has been knocking down the Europessimist myths about it... Beware of stereotypes based on ideological assumptions. As Europe's economy has surged, it has maintained fairness and equality. Unlike in the United States, with its rampant inequality and lack of universal access to affordable health care and higher education, Europeans have harnessed their economic engine to create wealth that is broadly distributed.
Super. Except that the US could do a lot more about those inequalities if they put a little less blood and treasure into European defense. It's really easy to harness your economic engine when you don't have to have a military because the US is treaty-bound to come to your defense in case of an attack.

Even if that wasn't true, this would still be a text-book example of what we teach our undergrads to call a "straw argument" and what we prefer to call "breathtaking, probably intentional obtuseness." The conservative critique of the European welfare state is only partly - and not mainly - based on its economic consequences. Even if they were economically sustainable, cradle-to-grave, make-more-on-unemployment-than-you-do-working welfare policies would still be a bad idea. They estrange different segments of society from each other, hinder public mingling and assimilation, and foster a seething culture of entitlement. This is a more pointed critique of Europe's socioeconomic policies than any economic concerns.

The WaPo published an article purporting to debunk conservative criticisms of the European welfare state without mentioning either immigration or demographics. Sophistication.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

"YOUTHS" RIOTING, BURNING POLICE CARS AGAIN IN PARIS

No word on their religion. We're thinking they might be Quakers:
Dozens of hooded youths battered two police vehicles with metal bars, set fire to more than a dozen parked cars and torched a community center in northeast France, officials said Friday. The rampage in a tough neighborhood in Saint-Dizier, about 120 miles east of Paris, revived memories of a wave of car burnings, vandalism and clashes with police in 2005 fanned by feelings of alienation among French youths of Arab and African origin. Authorities were not sure what sparked the violence by 30-40 youths late Thursday. The trouble began when firefighters escorted by police entered the Vert-Bois neighborhood in response to a fire alarm. Two injuries were reported. A police officer was treated for cuts from broken glass, and a firefighter was struck in the arm with a metal bar... The youths fled the scene and no arrests were made, officials said.
No arrests? That'll show em. French officials, by the by, speculate that the mysterious (perhaps atheist?) "youths" have been driven to violent rioting by unemployment. Obviously.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

LEFTISTS DEFACING MARINE OFFICES IN THE NAME OF FEMINISM

Last month JR blogged a long post about the leftist enemies of ordinary Iraqis. Now their answer would be "we oppose both US oppression and Islamist oppression.

But honestly, this "we oppose everything" liberal activism is starting to get a little tired. A person can be for robust US military force used in the interest of liberating women and gays from the yoke of political Islam or they can be against it. Opposing the only force currently working to free women and gays from sharia oppression is functionally equivalent to supporting their oppressors. "Both sides are wrong" is the height of shallowness - yes of course everyone is wrong in some way. But not everyone is equally wrong or bad. The question to ask someone who opposes the side that is better is: why do you choose to care about that and not this far more problematic thing?

Anyway, Code Pink. defaced a Marine recruitment center last week. Gateway Pundit has the story along with a bunch of pictures attesting to the things that these people choose to care about. Nice to see that things don't really change from month to month.

[Read an extended version of this post at Mere Rhetoric]

FINANCIER NAMED HSU PLEADS GUILTY IN RAPE SCHEME

NYTIMES/AP: Financier Pleads Guilty in Rape Scheme
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- A wealthy former hedge fund manager has pleaded guilty to seeking a stranger to rape and abduct his ex-mistress.

Albert Hsu, 43, of New Canaan, pleaded guilty Tuesday, and prosecutors dropped other charges as part of the plea deal.

He will also have to register as a sex offender and serve 12 years of probation after the jail time.

Hsu was arrested in March on allegations he posed as his former mistress and posted an ad on a bondage Web site inviting readers to kidnap and rape her as part of a sexual fantasy.

''I want a real-life abduction and rape scene,'' the fake Web ad read. ''Only those who can deliver on my extreme desires need apply.''
HE MIGHT NOT BE RELATED TO HILLARY CLINTON'S BAG-MAN NORMAN HSU, BUT HE IS RELATED TO BILL CLINTON, IN A FIGURATIVE SENSE: THEY'RE BOTH RAPISTS.

LAWYERING UP GITMO: HOW THE LEFT IS SCREWING UP OUR WAR EFFORT COMING & GOING

NYTIMES: Judge Halts Transfer of Guantanamo Detainee
A federal judge has barred the Bush administration from sending a Guantánamo detainee to his home country, where he claims he would face torture.

The judge, Gladys Kessler of United States District Court for the District of Columbia, issued an injunction prohibiting the planned transfer of the detainee to Tunisia, which has been criticized by American and international officials for human rights abuses.

Saying that the detainee, Mohammed Rahman, claimed that such a transfer would amount to a death sentence, Judge Kessler said “it would be a profound miscarriage of justice” if she allowed the government to send him to Tunisia.

“At that point, the damage would have been done,” she wrote, adding that Mr. Rahman faced a 20-year sentence after a conviction at a terrorism trial the Tunisian government held while he was at Guantánamo.

Advocates for detainees and human rights groups said the ruling was an important development in the legal battle over Guantánamo. They said it could reshape what have been frequent legal conflicts over administration plans to send detainees to countries where they say they face torture or mistreatment.


  • THE LEFT WON'T LET US KEEP THEM IN GITMO AND THEY WON'T LET US SHIP 'EM OUT.
  • ALL THEY REALLY WANTS TO DO IS TIE US UP IN KNOTS AND LET THE JIHADO-TERRORISTS OFF SCOT FREE.
  • SEEMS TO ME WE OUGHTTA BE ALLOWED TO SHIP BAD PEOPLE HOME.

AND JUST WHO IS THIS JUDGE KESSLER!? GLAD YOU ASKED; WIKI:
"Gladys Kessler is an United States District Court Judge for the District of Columbia.[1] She was nominated to the court by President Clinton, a Democrat, and is known as one of the most liberal judges in the D.D.C."
SCRATCH AN APPEASER AND YOU FIND A LIB. A CLINTON LIB.

The evidence for Neocommunism

Excerpt:

There is a compelling factual case to be made that the contemporary radical Left can properly be called "Neocommunist." The Hard Left is grounded in Marxist vision of creating a "new man" under a system led by a vanguard that knows best what the rest of society needs. And Neocommies behave in patterns with startling parallels to Old Communist tactics.

The Neocommies are not members of a Communist Party, and are part more of a movement than a conspiracy. They are utterly different from traditional liberalism in America and Europe. Traditional liberals were democratic -- people like Hubert Humphrey, Scoop Jackson and Harry Truman. They fought passionately against the Totalitarian Left, as Ronald Reagan did when he was president of the Screen Actors Guild. Reagan started as a democratic liberal, and became the most famous conservative of the 20th century. As he said so often, he didn't leave the Democratic Party -- it left him.

Over time, the Democrats became more totalitarian in spirit and practice after the first wave of the New Left started its takeover of the Party in the 1970s and 80s. Half a century ago, true liberal Democrats like Harry Truman told Americans the truth about Stalin and the new Cold War -- and were hated for it by the Hard Left. The American Labor movement was dominated by true liberals like George Meaney, who earned their positions by expelling Communist infiltrators, and in some cases throwing out entire Stalinist unions like the Longshoremen's Union. Today's Labor movement has gone back to Leftist bosses....

True liberals drew a bright line in the sand to separate themselves from Communists, including the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), which literally took its orders from Moscow. Combined with strong Democratic support for the national defense, the purge of Communist elements is precisely why liberals earned credibility and trust from the American people. In much of the 1950s and 1960s, "liberal" was not a dirty word, it was a boast. Had the true liberals given in to the Communists, they would have been marginalized by American voters. A Democratic Party with a strong anti-military, anti-victory wing would never have supported a strong national defense, and would not have been trusted in the face of the obvious menace of Stalin and his heirs.

Today the voters have not yet caught on to the real radicalism of the Left. If they do, Democrats will once again have to choose between the totalitarian impulse and being small d-democrats. Because our Democrats are emphatically not small-d democrats. They will use and manipulate their voters, but they don't listen to them. Whenever possible, they accomplish unpopular policy initiatives through the courts, our least democratic government mechanism, one never designed to lead in formulating social policy.....

Today's Neocommunists prefer to call themselves Marxists, which has again become a respected word on college campuses. But Marxism is Communist ideology. What else could it be? If you read carefully, Neocommunism is really out there, only slightly disguised. Just as Soviet propaganda insisted America was rotten to the core, so does the Hard Left and the institutions it controls parrot the line. The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, now a favorite history textbook in the colleges, is proud to "revise" everything we think we know about America, from the true people's point of view.

The heroes of today's aging New Left are the Old Communist Left, not the democratic liberals of the past. Karl Marx is considered the most important "philosopher" in Britain according to the BBC's Radio 4, polling its own audience. Guess how the captive BBC audience learned respect for old Karl? From the BBC itself, one of the biggest neo-Marxist Organs of Propaganda, paid for by the suckered British license holders.... Along the same lines, famous Communist thug, hero, martyr, and poster-boy Che Guevara just received an adoring tribute from Reuters, the big European news service, for "Che Guevara's ideals."

A new Stalin-Nazi alliance is alive in Europe and parts of the US, as Leftists openly ally themselves with Islamic Fascists. Islamists worship Allah and the Leftists worship atheism, but the ideological differences are not that big compared to the Hitler-Stalin Pact. Common enemies and common goals overcome doctrinal differences, to be worked out later.... Conversions to Islam are now common in Britain, especially among "alienated youths." That's where the Nazis made their converts in the 1920s and 30s. "Alienated youths" are always the easiest targets for any totalitarian creed. It's another sign of political danger.

Today's resurgence of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda is yet another cultural alarm bell shrilling, kicked off by the new "Red-Green" alliance. (Green is the color of Islam.) London's mayor "Red Ken" Livingstone was elected by a Red-Green alliance. Even Britain's Prince Charles likes to parade around in a Lawrence of Arabia costume, according to Mark Steyn's recent column. Prince Charles is an empty-headed fool, but Mayor Red Ken Livingstone is a true knave and demagogue. Totalitarians need both knaves and fools....

The aging New Left has simply become the Neocommunist Left. If you don't believe it, just ask them politely what they really believe. Or check out Moveon.org and many other locations on the web. It's not a secret.

The methods of Neocommunism parallel those of Old Communism to an astonishing degree. The routine use of orchestrated group lying (so that many different people are suddenly making the same accusation); The constant use of innocent-sounding front groups like MoveOn.org and Media Matters; The use of stooges (like military retirees, both real and phony); The need to whip up the rage of the faithful with constant disinformation about the enemy (i.e., America and conservatives); The infiltration of media and government....

The ideological goals of NeoCommunism have not changed one bit, which is why the term "communism" is so accurate. The sucker goal is to create Paradise on Earth by overthrowing democratic capitalism. The real goal is to enable the rise of a new ruling class with huge power over ordinary people....

Much more here

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)